Hunter's Soul
by swift56
Summary: Life... we only have one, and everyone's goal in life is to make theirs burn bright. But some out there burn brighter than others. This is the story of one such soul, who's life... burns the brightest.
1. Prologue

"My name is Neil Detros, I'm 17 years old, my best friends are an eccentric monk and a brawling bombshell... and I'm dead."

Now, a lot of you are probably wondering what I mean by that, right?

Well, we need to go back a little to this morning, when I woke up on the day of my 17th birthday.

* * *

"Master Neil please reconsider! Leaving the temple is most dangerous, the grimm infest the forest, and you do not have a weapon to defend yourself, I simply cannot condone this!" pleaded a man in his early twenties with a shaven head, wearing monk robes and carrying a staff with him.

Listening to him, was a young man with orange hair and brown eyes, wearing a blue shirt underneath an orange hoodie and a pair of simple black jeans with sneakers, the before mentioned Neil. As he was tying his shoes, he looked back at the monk "Onari… I'm going to see Yang." he said simply.

The monk, Onari, put on a thoughtful face at that "Well… that does make it acceptable in that case, Miss Yang is very good at putting up a fight." he stopped as he could feel a cold glare on him, looking down to see Neil giving him said glare.

"Are you trying to say I can't fight?" Neil while said while cracking his knuckles.

Onari sweated a bit, remembering all the times Neil put him in his place when he went out of line "N-not at all young master, it's just, well, miss Yang is stronger than you by a certain margin..." he laughed nervously as he trailed off.

Neil kept up the glare for a little longer, before shaking his head and sighing "I'll see you later Onari." he said as he left, opening a sliding door and walking out of the temple and off the grounds, into the forest below, though not before making a small detour to his parent's tombstone to pay his respects.

You see, Neil was the heir of the Detros Temple, a home for spiritualist monks.

The previous grandmaster of the temple had been his father, Alexander Detros.

They didn't really follow the color naming tradition the rest of Remnant did.

Onari had joined the temple a few years back, when he was still a teenager, and shortly before the death of Neil's father.

But, even before that, Neil had been friends with a girl named Yang and her little sister Ruby.

They'd known each other since they were kids, and Yang had even helped teach him basic self defense, since he wasn't much of a fighter.

No, Neil was a researcher and a historian if anything.

He loved to learn about the past of Remnant, including the amazing figures of the past, the Luminaries as his father had referred to them as.

All of them were rather interesting, though his favorite by far was the Mistralian samurai, Musashi.

The man had been the first known to historically use two swords in battle.

Minutes later, he finally finished his prayer, and got up as he actually left the temple this time.

He simply whistled lightly as he walked down the dirt path from the temple.

He lived on the island of Patch, just like Yang and Ruby did, and the temple was a well known place of prayer for the people who lived in the town, and even for some people from Vale.

As he kept on walking, he eventually tripped on an exposed root, falling face first into the ground as something fell out of his pocket.

The object was white, with several black lines running over it, it's general shape was of an orb with a button sticking out the side of it.

It was also something his mother had left behind for him, if his father was to be believed.

Just as he was about to grab it, something darted out of the bushes and snatched it up, making him blink a few times at what exactly had decided to steal his memento.

A squirrel, of all things, trying to stuff his memento into it's mouth, probably thinking it was a nut of some kind.

He could feel his eyebrow twitch in irritation as he slowly got up, before lunging for the small critter, which moved out of the way from him.

Neil glared at it for a moment, with the squirrel being smart enough to realise something big and angry was after it, as it started running, with Neil chasing after it.

The chase kept on for several minutes, with several near misses and almost grabs, until eventually, Neil stomped on the squirrel's tail, causing it to let go of the memento, before he punted the little thing away in a huff.

Sighing, he crouched down and picked up the memento, checking it over to make sure it was ok, before putting it away in his pocket with a smile.

He looked up, eyeing the area around him, before blinking in confusion "Wait… where am I?"

His question was answered not by a voice, but by a growl, making him slowly turn around to see a Grimm, more specifically an Ursa, stalking out of the trees.

Slowly, Neil stepped back, rightfully afraid for his life at seeing a Grimm from up close.

After all, he didn't have his aura unlocked, nor did he have a weapon.

(Warning: scene of gore imminent, all children watching cover your eyes)

Then, to his dismay, the stupid cliche of the branch happened, it's crack setting off the grimm as it lunged at him and swung its arm forward.

Neil tried to move backwards to avoid it, getting a set of scratches on his stomach that started to bleed for his effort.

He wasn't fast enough to avoid the next swipe though.

It tore through his stomach, shedding away at his skin and muscle, his eyes widening as he looked down to see his own guts spilling out of him.

He stumbled backwards, his mind unable to process this, as his back hit a tree and he slowly slid down.

The Ursa stalked forward, eyes on it's prize… before it's head was blown to chunks from a shotgun blast.

"Neil!" he heard a stressed and, dare he say it, scared voice say in concern as his vision slowly darkened, soon seeing the face of his best friend coming into view, the lavender eyed blonde girl that was Yang Xiao Long.

Well, normally her eyes were lavender, but at the moment, they were red, a product of her semblance from what he blearily remembered her telling him.

His breath was shallow as he held his hand out towards her, feeling her hand grabbing his and squeezing it "I'm… I'm sorry." he muttered lowly as he could feel his consciousness slipping away.

"Don't say that! Don't you dare give up on me right now! We'll get you help dammit!" she said, not willing to let him go, as she darted her eyes desperately around the field, trying to find something that could help.

He couldn't help but smile weakly at the fact she didn't want to let him go "Thanks…" he said weakly, before he felt less and less that his chances were good "... cold." he mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear.

Yang darted her eyes to him, she could feel his hand slowly growing colder and colder, so she decided to see if her semblance could help, really the only rational thought she could make in her panic, as small flames licked at her body, warming her touch.

She saw him move his eyes to her, before smiling weakly "Thanks Yang… but… I don't think I'll… make it…"

"No! You will make it dammit! I promise!" she said, unable to stop the tears as one of her close friends was dying in front of her.

He chuckled weakly, as he squeezed her hand with the last of his strength "Thanks… for being here… you always were… my best friend…"

Yang smiled weakly, before feeling his grip go slack, her eyes widening as she saw the last light of life leave his own.

"No… no, no no no no nononono NO!" she uttered, softly, being slowly growing into a crescendo of sadness.

"Dammit! Not again! Why?!" she shouted, crying freely as she couldn't help but feel about how unjust it was, that she was losing someone important again.

She hugged his corpse close to herself, uncaring of the blood staining her clothes as she remembered first meeting Neil.

Ruby had only been 3 years old at the time, and both her and Yang had went to the temple with their parents and uncle.

Apparently they were good friends with Neil's father, and thought it would be nice if the girls met him, since he was one of the people included on the short list of 'if there's trouble, run to them'

They ended up meeting Neil while he was cleaning his mother's gravestone, though, at the time he always loved wearing masks, so he had scared Ruby a bit since he was wearing a horned demon mask when they first saw him.

She ended up punching him for making Ruby cry, and they got into a scuffle after that, his mask fallen off and forgotten.

After their fathers had broken up the fight, they'd been told to apologize to each other obviously, but both had been stubborn until their dads had each told them they'd be losing something if they didn't.

Obviously, their friendship had a rocky start, but slowly, they started to act more and more like friends, looking out for each other, to the point that Ruby considered Neil almost like a big brother from how often he was around the two girls.

He was always there, for them, and when their mother died, him and his father had found them walking through the woods, and brought them to the temple, where Alexander had told Yang everything he could about her birth mother, helping her realise that the woman was anything but a mother.

And just like Neil had comforted them when their mother passed, they'd been there for him when his father died roughly 6 years ago.

It had been understandable that he didn't want to be near the temple for a while, so they'd let him stay at their house for a few days, with the few monks and disciples taking care of the temple until he came back.

And now… now he was dead too.

* * *

He felt like he was… floating?

Wait… not just floating… in water?

Neil gasped as his head shot up from under the water, taking deep breaths as he swam out of the deep pond.

As he pulled himself out of the water, he couldn't help but look around the area.

It looked like a hidden spring in the middle of the forest.

But, there was something more pressing at hand.

"Didn't I… die?" he uttered in confusion as his hand went to his stomach.

He brought his hand up to look at it, seeing blood on it, looking back down at his stomach, only to see a lack of injuries present, and only blood coating his stomach.

"What the hell is going on?" he muttered, utterly confused at the moment.

"That would be my doing." he heard a voice say from behind him, making him turn around quickly.

Standing behind him was an old man with long white hair and a small beard, wearing long yellow and red robes, almost like he was a monk.

Neil looked at him for a few moments before standing up straight "Who are you?"

The old man lifted his hand, and then snapped his fingers, making Neil blink before looking around "uh…?" he was about to say something when the old man pointed down, making Neil look down to see his blood stains were gone "What?"

"Can't have you walking around covered in blood now can we?" the old man said cheekily, with Neil looking back up at him and nodding.

"Uh, yeah, good point, thank you sir." he said with a short bow of thanks.

The old man waved it off "No worries, it's the least I could do. Now, you're asking yourself why you're here if you're dead right?." he received a nod from Neil "Well, good, because that's a legitimately good question and I'd be worried if you weren't asking it." he said with a cheeky smile, which made Neil laugh a bit before he continued "Now, first, no, this isn't Heaven or Hell. This is more like… Limbo I guess you could say. You're not FULLY dead, but you aren't alive either."

Neil blinked as he tried to process that, coming up short "So… what does that mean?"

"It means, young Neil, that you, are a ghost… and that you have a shot at coming back to life." he finished with a grin as he leaned on his cane… which fell out of his sleeve.

Neil's eyes widenned "Seriously? How?" he asked, not really able to believe it.

"Again, very good question, glad to see your noggin is intact and still in working order. But first, before I explain how you will be able to live once more, I need you to bring out your mother's gift to you." the old man said, finishing a bit more seriously than how he started.

Neil looked at him in confusion, but indulged him nonetheless, grabbing his mother's memento from his pocket and bringing it out… only to blink in confusion "It's… different."

Indeed, it now looked more like an eyeball in some kind of black casing, and on the top of the casing was a small orange sticker with some kind of face design and the word GHOST underneath it.

"That young man, is currently housing your soul." the old man said, making Neil look up at him in surprise before looking back down at the memento.

"My… soul?" he repeated, obviously flabbergasted.

"Trust me, it's really complicated how the heck your soul is in there while you're obviously out here, it's best not to question it." the old man said in a stage whisper, with Neil looking at him and nodding.

"So… I just realised you still haven't told me who you are." Neil said in deadpan.

The old man blinked "Ah, right, knew I was forgetting something. Well… I can't tell you my real name, that's a secret, but I've been called a lot of things, Sage, Old Man Sage, Old Man, Gramps, and Pops… pick whichever you want I suppose." the old man finished with a shrug.

Neil nodded "Then… please explain how I can come back to life Sage."

Sage nodded, smiling a bit at the respect in Neil's tone "Right, so, to make it a bit easier to understand, you'll need the powers of the Luminaries." he started catching Neil's attention right off the bat "Essentially, you need what are known as the 15 Luminarie Eyecons, as for what an Eyecon is, you're holding one."

Neil looked down at the memento, no, at the Eyecon in his hand, before looking back and nodding at Sage to continue.

"To find the Luminarie Eyecons, well, you need to find a person with a strong tie to said Luminary, either with them being a descendant, or being a great admirer, sort of like how you admire Musashi, and yes, he's one of the 15 Luminaries. Now, to actually be able to hold the eyecon in your hand, you'll have to find an object that represents the Luminary, and make an eye shape over it with your fingers, trust me I know it sounds weird, and then the spirit of the Luminary will come forth, after that, you only need to make them jump into a certain object, and voila, eyecon in your hand." Sage explained, with Neil nodding along the way to show he understood.

"And what's the object in question?" he asked, curious.

"The Ghost Driver." Sage said as he pointed his cane at Neil's waist, with a sudden burst of orange flames appearing around it, and a belt suddenly materialised around him.

The front of the belt had a lever on the side, and the front of it looked like a stereotypical bedsheet ghost, with a single hole in the middle shaped like an eye.

Neil looked at the belt, then at the Eyecon in his hand, and back and forth for a few moments, before looking up at Sage, who nodded with a cheeky grin at what Neil had deduced.

"Should I…?" Neil trailed off as he pointed at both objects.

"Once I'm done with my explanation." Sage said with a nod, Neil accepting that.

"Now then, there's something important you should know about your chance at coming back to life… you have a time limit. 99 days, and once they're up, goodbye Neil… forever." he said, completely serious this time, with Neil sweating a bit at the foreboding feeling he got from those words.

"Let's see… what should I tell him next… yeah, probably should." Sage mumbled underneath his breath while looking off to the side before concentrating on Neil again "This part is pretty important… there's another Ghost Driver user out there, and, let me tell you, that kid is a bit rough around the edges, so be careful if you meet him, since he probably won't be pulling any punches with you, so neither should you." Sage said, with Neil nodding, while wondering what the other user was like.

"Now, the biggest warning though… there's a group out there, creatures known as the Ganma, they are dangerous, and they are after the eyecons as well, for what reason though, I don't know yet, but know that they will stop at nothing to get an eyecon, including killing innocent bystanders… and their method of generating an eyecon is different as well. Instead of essentially finding someone with a strong connection and then simply drawing out the power from an object that shares that connection, they will stop at the person… and turn them into the eyecon."

Neil looked at Sage for a few moments "I'm sure that's bad… but you'll have to explain just how bad."

Sage nodded "Basically, the soul of the Luminary will override the soul of the person used, so they stop existing altogether."

Neil's eyes widened at that "Alright… definitely bad."

"Which is why, I took a precaution before meeting you here." Sage said cheekily as he opened his hand and out dropped… Musashi's hilt guard, hanging from a rope.

Neil looked at it for a few moments "You turned it into a necklace?"

"Well, yes, but the important part is you already have one Eyecon down already thanks to this." Sage said to get back onto the main point before throwing it at Neil, who caught it in his hand.

He looked at for a moment before bringing up his index and middle fingers from his free hand and making an eye shape over the hilt guard, being surprised when whispy orange eye actually appeared, before suddenly, something jumped out of the guard, making him stumble back as he looked up.

Flying around the air above him and eventually striking a pose was a red parka with a topknot on it's hood, and long stripes shaped like katana blades coming down from it's shoulders, with glowing red eyes inside the hood.

"Musashi?" he muttered in confusion.

To his surprise, the parka laughed a bit in the voice of a man in his 30s "Ah, it's good to finally meet you Neil, your father told me a lot about you."

"Wait… you know my father?" Neil said in confusion.

"That's right. I fought alongside him a few times when he was in need of my assistance, lending him my blades whenever possible." Musashi said, crossing what Neil was pretty sure were supposed to be his arms.

"That's… honestly rather awesome… can I count on your help to come back to life then?" he asked hopefully.

Musashi nodded "Of course, I'll help with that, and anything else I might be able to." he then floated closer and stage whispered "Just don't ask me for advice with women, I was never good with them." he said, making Neil snort in laughter.

"Alright, then lend me your power please, Musashi!" Neil said, determined to get through this ordeal of his.

The samurai nodded, and Neil could feel the smirk aimed at him, before Musashi flew down into the Ghost Driver, the belt opening up a second later and popping out a red eyecon with a sticker that had two crossed blades on top, and written under it was the word MUSASHI.

"Nicely done." Sage said, while Neil pocketed the eyecon and hung the guard around his neck.

"So, what should I do now?" Neil asked, honestly curious.

"Well, now-" Sage started to talk in a cheeky voice, before he stopped and got serious "Now you're going to make sure your blonde friend stays safe, two Ganma just appeared close to her, and they might attack her in hopes of getting an eyecon."

Neil's eyes widened in surprise, before he nodded seriously, understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Now get going." Sage said seriously, before blinking "Oh, and before I forget, my assistant, Yurusen, will probably be popping in to help you… well, hopefully he'll help you, he looks like a small cyclops with a cape, trust me, you'll recognize him."

Neil blinked at the description, before nodding, as Sage snapped his fingers and everything went white.

* * *

Back in the real world, Yang had been in the process of carrying Neil's corpse back to the temple, her mood somber as looked forward, knowing that looking at his face would only make her cry again.

Then, something unexpected happened.

His body started glowing brightly, nearly causing her to drop him as she was almost blinded, before his body started to scatter into small specks of light, all of them flying off into the forest.

Quite obviously, she was shocked, never having seen that happen to someone when they die.

So with that mystery spurring her own, she ran after the light, hoping to find out just what the hell was going on.

Meanwhile, the light reformed up in a tree, taking on the shape of Neil, who looked good as new, and had the Ghost Driver around his waist.

He was staring down into the forest below, observing the two Ganma that were trying to locate the eyecons.

Both of them were wearing white parkas over their pure black bodies, and both had blue eyes, with a strange belt that looked like a half open eye on their waists, but that was the end of the similarities.

One of the two was wearing a parka with speak bits attached to the hood and bits of gold at the edges of the shoulders and near his waist, holding a triple pronged spear in his hand.

The other had blue highlights in his parka with a short cape on his back, and his right hand was replaced with a large katana.

Spear and Sword Ganma would be appropriate names for them he supposed.

Spear Ganma suddenly piped up "Hey."

"Yeah?" Sword Ganma replied simply.

"Why are we here?" Spear asked.

Sword looked up in thought "It's one of life's greatest mysteries isn't it? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? One who has a plan for each and everyone of us. I don't think I can properly answer that question. Honestly, it even keeps me up at night sometimes." he finished while turning to Spear, the two of them staring at each other silently for a few moments, while Neil looked at Sword as if he was a special kind of idiot.

Spear continued to stare at Sword until he decided to talk "... I meant why are we in this forest… moron."

"O-oh! I, uh, I knew that! I was just, you know, messing with you." Sword said, laughing awkwardly as he tried to look convincing.

"Freaking jackass." Spear muttered under his breath.

"So, um, the mission, right." Sword cleared his throat as he tried to forget about his embarrassment while getting back on track "We're supposed to be looking for one of the eyecons, just like Lord Alain asked us to do."

"Do we even know why we want these eyecons?" Spear questioned while twirling his weapon in his hand.

Sword shook his head "No clue, Lord Alain was tight lipped about that." with that, the two continued walking again.

Neil stayed crouch in the tree as he watched them leave "Alain huh? Guess that's someone to be wary of." he stood up on the tree branch "Now then, while they can't hear me, let's try out the Ghost Driver." he mumbled as he brought out his own eyecon, pressing the button on the side, making the eyecon blink before revealing a G in it's center.

He opened up the front of the driver, placing his eyecon in it, before closing it back up.

He wasn't too surprised to see the black parka with an orange lining and glowing orange eyes in the hood fly out of it after seeing Musashi earlier.

But what DID surprise him… was the music.

 **"BACHIRIMINA! BACHIRIMINA! BACHIRIMINA! BACHIRIMINA!"**

That one word kept on repeating along with a small beat.

He looked at the parka, who gave him a shrug, as if to say it was as lost as he was.

He shrugged back, before going for the lever.

"Hold on a minute!"

Only to almost fall out of the tree as something suddenly got in his face.

As he got a hold of himself, made easier by the black parka supporting him and helping him stand straight again, he looked at what exactly had surprised him.

It looked like… a small cyclops with a cape, and a small orange body that had two stubby arms and no legs.

He looked at it for a few more moments, glancing at the parka, who glanced at him, before they both looked back at the small ghost "Are you Yurusen?" he asked it.

"That's right. I… am the great Yurusen! And the Old Man sent me to help you out a bit, though, you were doing pretty good right there, spying on them to try and get some info, good call on that." the small ghost said before praising Neil with a smirk.

Neil smiled a bit at that "Thank you."

"You'll be saying that often if you keep playing it smart then." Yurusen chuckled a bit "Now, you were about to do your transformation wrong, and I just could NOT, let that stand."

Neil rose a curious eyebrow "Wrong how?"

"Well, for starters, you don't even know what you were going to turn into, let me answer that right now, it's known as Kamen Rider Ghost, and before you ask, Kamen comes from an old tongue that not many people know anymore, it means Masked. Now, second thing, you weren't even saying the magnificent word that one says while transforming." Yurusen said with a slowly growing grin as he kept on talking.

Neil looked at Yurusen curiously "And what word is that?"

Yurusen's grin only seemed to grow wider "Henshin."

Neil slowly nodded, he didn't know why, but just hearing the word felt right "So, I say that while pulling the lever."

Yurusen "Yup. Oh, and throw in some vava-voom as well, like do a bit of motioning first, trust me, makes it even more awesome."

Neil blinked, before nodding "Alright… let's try this again then."

Yurusen nodded and floated backwards a bit to give Neil space.

Taking a breath, Neil placed his hands together, before raising the index and middle finger of his left hand while his right hand reached down to the lever, grasping it "Henshin!" and pulled it before quickly pushing it back in, making the eyecon blink once more before showing the same image that was on the sticker on top.

 **"KAIGAN! ORE! LET'S GO! KAKUGOU! GO-GO-GO-GHOST! (GO! GO! GO! GO!)"**

To his surprise, some kind of energy formed around him and attached to his body, creating a suit of armor on him.

The armor was colored black, with orange lines on certain parts designed to have the appearance of bones. On his chest plate, was a white colored eye shape with a whispy horn sticking out the top of the eye. As for his helmet, it was rather featureless, with the back and the jaw being black like most of the suit, but the front part, which was actually like a glass window to him as he looked through it, was silver in color and hid his face completely.

Apparently his transformation wasn't done though, as the black parka flew up and around him, before falling down onto his shoulders, which surprised him a bit as there were no openings in the side of the parka to let his arms just pass through the side. And just as suddenly as the parka slid on, a faceplate slid up onto the silver part of the helmet, being mostly orange in color with two black ovals that appeared to be like large eyes, and a metallic blue and silver whispy horn on his forehead.

Slowly, he reached up, and pulled back the hood of the parka, letting it rest on his shoulders.

"Now THAT's what I call a good Henshin." Yurusen with a nod of approval.

Ghost nodded as he looked himself over a bit, before looking at Yurusen "I'm going after them." he said, before jumping down the tree and running after the two Ganma.

"Good luck!" Yurusen shouted after him.

As he was running, Ghost started to think to himself about the current events, sure, it was all happening right now, but it was still hard to believe.

Still though, now that it was happening, he figured he should try and figure out what exactly he could do before reaching the Ganma.

'I'm a ghost now, so let's see, that probably means I can pass through solid objects for starters.' he thought to himself, soon seeing a tree in his path, and simply focused on trying to become intangible.

He doesn't really get how, but something apparently clicked in his body as he kept on running through the tree, not leaving a single mark on it.

'Ok, that's checked off the list. I can probably become invisible as well but I can't really test that right now without someone to tell me if I did become invisible. Next ability should be… flight I suppose.'

After finishing his thought, he started to kick off the ground with each step, trying to fly, and once more, it suddenly happened after enough tries, as he flew forwards for a few meters before touching down on the ground, stumbling a bit before he got to running again.

'Ok, this is good, I can fly and I can phase through things, and I can hopefully become invisible… but, I just realised that I don't have a weapon.'

That was certainly a problem for him, after all, how could he beat a sword and a spear user with just his bare hands.

'There's gotta be something… Musashi was a practitioner of two swords style, so borrowing his strength would likely give me two swords… but where would they come from?'

Eventually, his eyes darted down to the Ghost Driver.

'It would definitely make sense if you ask me.' he thought to himself as he held his hand close to it and concentrated on a weapon.

Thankfully, he wasn't disappointed.

 **"GANGUN SABER!"**

Appearing in his hand was a wide black sword with white highlights, it's grip being orange, and having an eye symbol between the blade and the grip.

He looked the weapon over, soon finding that he could move certain pieces of it, before setting them all back in place.

"Alright, I can definetly use this." he muttered, and looked up to see the forms of the two Ganma.

"Ok, let's do this." he said, before jumping up and floating towards them.

When he was only inches from them, he spun in the air, slashing both of them in the back, before sliding to a stop once his feet touched the ground a few feet away from him.

The two Ganma, both of them thrown to the ground from the sudden attack, quickly got back up, glaring at him "Who the heck are you supposed to be?!" Spear shouted while pointing with his weapon.

"Kamen Rider Ghost, though, knowing that won't do you much good, since you aren't getting any further than this." Ghost said, taunting them a bit.

"Why you! I'll show you not to mess around with us!" Spear shouted in anger, quickly rushing to attack Ghost, who simply sidestepped the stab, before kneeing Spear in the stomach, knocking the air out of him, followed by jumping back to avoid an attack from Sword.

While this was going on, Yang had tried her best to follow the lights that had been Neil's body, only to end up losing sight of them rather quickly, but still, she continued to follow the path they had been on, eventually finding something strange.

It was like someone had just decided to randomly cut a tree.

And when she noticed that, she saw footprints in the ground off in another direction, with a third set of footprints being present as well, though for some reason it moved through a tree without issue, and then just vanished for a few moments before reappaering.

Then she reached a clearing in the forest, where she saw something even more strange.

It was almost like cuts and stabs were appearing on the ground and in the trees out of thin air.

The weirder part is she could see vague blurry forms moving in the clearing, apparently being the ones doing the damage while fighting.

From what she could see, she could guess that two of those shapes were working together to try and fight another one.

Meanwhile, from the fight's perspective.

Ghost's eyes had widened behind his mask when he noticed Yang.

'Well, this just got harder to keep her safe.' he mentally grumbled as he tried to think of a way to either end the fight quickly or draw it further away before either of the two Ganma noticed her.

Sure they were roughed up, but he doubted he could both defend Yang and fight them at the same time.

And that's when he got his idea.

'Two… let's hope this works.' he mentally prayed before kicking the two Ganma away from himself to get some space, as he brought out Musashi's eyecon.

"Gimme a hand Musashi!" he said while pressing the button, making the eyecon blink to show the number 01.

Quickly opening the Driver, he took out his eyecon and replaced it with Musashi's making his parka and faceplate disappear, while Musashi came out of the Driver and slashed at the two stunned Ganma.

"He has one of the eyecons!" Sword exclaimed in shock.

"You don't say moron!" Spear shot back at him, clearly aggravated by this turn of events.

Wasting no time, Neil closed back up the Driver and quickly pulled and pushed back the lever.

 **"KAIGAN! MUSASHI! _(BIWA CHORD)_ KETTO! ZUBATTO! CHO KENGO! _(BIWA CHORDS AND SLASHING SFX)_ "**

As the jingle played, the parka set itself down on Ghost's shoulders, with the small blade appendages moving to rest on his back, and the faceplate slid into place, being once more, the same as on the eyecon.

Grabbing one of the edges of the Gangun Saber, Ghost slid it apart from the main portion of the blade, flicking it once to extend it into a second sword, now wielding dual katanas.

"I'm counting on you to guide my body, Musashi." Ghost muttered lowly.

'Worry not Neil, I was already planning on doing that.' he heard the spirit reply in his mind.

"Come." Ghost said while crossing his blades in front of himself.

To put it simply, what came next was even more one sided than before.

Whereas Ghost had been taking a bit of damage from taking on both Ganma at once, now he was blocking, parrying and redirecting their attacks, striking back at them each time they were open, while making sure to keep their attention on him.

Nodding to himself once he saw they were wounded enough, Ghost brought the main blade of the Gangun Saber in front of his belt, lining up the eye symbol on it with the eyecon in the belt.

 **"DAI KAIGAN! GANGUN MINNA! GANGUN MINNA!"**

Bringing the two swords up overhead slowly, Ghost let the energy charge in them for a few moments, before angling each blade towards a Ganma…

 **"OMEGA SLASH!"**

… And bringing them down, slashing them both from the shoulder all the way down to the hip.

The attack was apparently too much for the Ganmas, as they forcefully ejected their parkas off their bodies, before said bodies blew up, and the parkas withered away.

Ghost sighed as he finally relaxed his pose, the Gangun Saber disappearing from his hands, and looked up to see Yang walking over and looking in confusion at the area that had blown up.

"How am I gonna explain this to her?" Ghost muttered, mostly to himself.

'I find it's best to be honest.' Musashi answered him mentally, making Ghost nod slowly in agreement.

With that decided, Ghost instinctively willed his body to become visible, with Yang stepping back in shock as she raised her hands up to fight "Who the heck are you?!"

Instead of directly answering, Ghost continued to look at her "Wait… you can see me?"

As she heard him speak, Yang blinked, trying to process what she had just heard "... Neil?" she said, rather unsure.

Ghost nodded as he opened the driver and pulled out the Musashi eyecon, before closing it back up, making him look down in confusion when he heard it say **"OYASUMI~"** followed by the armor disappearing from over his body and the belt disappearing for now, finally revealing his appearance to Yang, who just stared at him in shock.

Neil raised up his hands "Now, before you punch me, I'm still a little confused myself about how this is even possible."

Yang looked at him for a few more moments, before her eyes slowly started to water and she pulled him into a rather tight hug "I thought you were dead dammit!"

Sighing, Neil hugged her back "To be fair, I am."

Yang sniffled a bit as she looked up at him "What do you mean?"

"From what I can understand, I'm a ghost stuck in limbo for 99 days, with a chance to come back to life." he explained it as simply as he could for now.

Yang looked at him for a few moments as they separated from the hug, before nodding "Alright, so what do you have to do to come back?"

"Hunt down the 15 luminary eyecons." he said while pulling out Musashi's eyecon from his clothes.

Yang looked at it, before looking back at him and grinning "Well then, in that case I guess I'm gonna give you a hand to live again."

"You're taking this surprisingly well." Neil shot back in amusement.

"Oh trust me, there's plenty more I want to ask, but that can wait till we're at the temple. But seriously, I'm gonna help you." she said, going for a smile now.

Neil nodded, smiling as well "Alright, thanks Yang."

With that, the two started walking back towards the temple, ready to think up a plan of attack, so that once more Neil could live.

* * *

 **OUTTA NOWHERE!**

 **Heh, but yeah, I bet this came out oh nowhere for all of you guys huh?**

 **So, things to note.**

 **Yes, the Ganma did the first RvB joke ever, because come on, this is a Rooster Teeth world, we needed at least one staple RT joke XD**

 **Yes, Sennin is less dodgy here, because he realises Remnant is a dangerous place, so he's more open with information towards Neil.**

 **Also, yes, all of the Luminaries will be integrated into Remnant's history.**

 **Regarding Neil's timelimit, well, yeah, you can tell it's going to head into RWBY canon soon enough right?**

 **But yeah, Neil's quest will overlap with canon, trust me, I can work it in.**

 **Oh, and, yes, a lot of the characters from Ghost are basically being pulled into here, if the fact that Sennin, Yurusen and Onari where all there.**

 **I promise Neil won't be as annoying as Takeru was though.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and are all looking forward to more.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone and welcome back to Hunter's Soul!**

 **Today our chapter is rather small, mostly because it wraps up the events from the prologue, as well as truly begins the story proper.**

 **Anyway, let's watch!**

* * *

"How are gonna explain this to Onari?" Neil wondered as he sat in the main room of the temple.

"No clue. The guy's always been eccentric so it's gonna turn weird, I can guarantee that much." Yang said with a shrug as she sat across from him.

It was then they heard the rapid fall of footsteps coming from a few rooms over, rushing closer to them if the sound getting louder was any indication.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Neil muttered in deadpan.

"Makes you wonder if he's got some sort of Neil-dar." Yang said, grinning slightly as Neil snorted at the pun.

The door slid open after their little laugh session, with Onari quickly stepping inside "Master Neil! I honestly didn't expect you back so early." he admitted in slight surprise before looking at Yang "Nor did I expect you to come over today miss Yang."

"The first time was weird, and it's still weird to hear that now." Yang muttered as she wasn't used to being addressed with that much respect.

"Welcome to my world, I get that treatment everyday." Neil muttered back before focusing on Onari "So… there's a reason I came back so soon… but it's weird to explain."

"I'm sure it isn't that strange." Onari said, not realising how wrong he was.

"You have no idea." Yang muttered.

"Onari… literally it's the most impossible thing ever." Neil sighed as he rubbed his forehead trying to think of a way to put it.

"I don't under-" Onari started, only to cut himself off as he tripped while taking a step forward.

And then he phased through Neil as the young ghost went intangible on instinct , with Onari falling onto the chair while Neil fell through the floor, floating back up from it a moment later.

"Well...I guess that'd save time explaining…" Neil couldn't help but mutter.

Onari was staring at him, mouth agape as he tried to form a sentence, the only thing passing his lips being short but cut off words as he attempted to comprehend the sight before him.

After a few moments…

"I think you broke him," Yang couldn't help but snort.

"You say that like I did that on purpose," Neil glared slightly.

Yang simply laughed at his glare, while Neil shook his head in exasperation "I'll go get a bucket." he said with a sigh as he walked out of the room.

When he came back a few minutes later, Onari was still in the same stunned pose from earlier… though Yang was crouched in front of him and was doodling on his face with a marker.

"That better not be a permanent one." was all he said, with Yang laughing behind her hand while she stepped away from the stunned monk, before Neil dumped the bucket, now full of water, over Onari's head, drenching him and the spot underneath him, while also smearing away some of the marker drawings, keyword being some.

Being doused in water had the desired effect on the monk, snapping him out of his stunned state as he shook himself, trying to remove the water from his face and smearing the amount of marker left all over his face, forcing Yang to bite on one of her gloves before she starts to laugh too loudly.

Eventually Neil decided enough was enough. "Okay, I think you've had more than enough time for your brain to reboot, Onari. And Yang, stop making fun of him," he said flatly.

Yang snickered a bit "Sorry, it's just so easy sometimes."

Neil rolled his eyes at the comment before focusing on Onari "Right, ask your questions now."

"Did you unlock your semblance?" was the first thing Onari said.

"I wish it was that simple." Neil muttered with a sigh.

Onari blinked at that, before trying again "Am I having a strange dream?" he asked again.

His response was Yang pinching his arm, making him yelp in surprise "Nevermind then." he said as he rubbed the spot she pinched.

"Alright, this is going to sound very weird, but trust me when I say I'm being completely serious." Neil said, getting the monk's attention "So, first things first, I kind of… died." he said, not knowing any other way to put it "And I now have 99 days to come back to life. To do that, I'll need to hunt down the 15 Luminary Eyecons." he said, before pulling out the Musashi eyecon "These little things right here, they house the spirits of famed people."

Onari stayed silent for a few moments "Then, what happens if you don't have them all in 99 days?" he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Yang turned to Neil at Onari's words, frowning as she considered them, before Neil spoke. "Then I'm gone for good." he said, the mood becoming somber.

It stayed like that for several moments, before Onari quickly stood up "In that case, we'll just have to do our best to find them." he said, his face determined.

Neil smiled in thanks, while Yang nodded in agreement "We aren't letting you go so easily." she told Neil with a grin.

He grinned back "Thanks you two."

"So!" Onari started, a bit loudly at that "What should our first step be then?"

Neil opened his mouth to reply, before blinking "I'm… not sure, the old sage who explained it all to me didn't have time to finish really, Yang was in danger so he kinda sent me to go fight monsters called Ganma."

"And that's what you have me for," came a new voice...or at least one that only Neil seemed to hear clearly.

"Huh? Did you hear something?" Yang blinked.

"Well what do you know, she CAN hear me." Neil heard just above his head, making him crane his head up to see Yurusen floating above him and looking at Yang curiously.

"Yurusen? How long have you been here?" he asked as the small ghost moved to be in better view.

"Not long, just a minute or two." the little cyclops replied, earning a nod from Neil.

"Neil? What's the thing you're talking to? I can barely see it… and I think I can hear it a bit." Yang asked him, squinting as she looked at the spot Yurusen was.

"I can't see or hear whatever it is you are talking about." Onari added, looking at both of them and wondering what was going on.

"I told the old sage people with an active aura could see us!" Yurusen exclaimed with a laugh.

"So...we were wondering about how to start going about Eyecon hunting and well...any suggestions?" Neil asked slowly.

"Right, well… I may have to get back to you on that, you're putting me on the spot right now, but I should have an answer soon. Although, here's a suggestion, look for paranormal activity, that could be a good first step." the small ghost said after a moment of thought.

"Alright, come find us when you think of something more then." Neil said with a nod, before the small ghost disappeared completely.

"So… what was that? You called it Yurusen?" Yang asked after a few moments.

"Right, he's basically a little cyclops that floats around. With any luck, he'll have something for us soon. Though he did recommend that we be on the lookout for paranormal activity." Neil explained, agreeing with the idea the little ghost had given him.

"I see… I may have an idea then, if you'll excuse me." Onari said, smiling a bit as he got up and left the room to go do… something.

"Any clue what he's up to?" Yang asked her friend with a raised eyebrow as he finally sat back down.

"Give it a few hours and he'll tell us." Neil said with a shrug as he sighed.

He could only wonder how his quest would go.

* * *

Meanwhile, back where Neil had defeated the two Ganma, someone looked at the area with narrowed eyes.

It was a young man with black hair and pale blonde tips, wearing a grey shirt and muffler around his neck, and simply grey slacks.

His green eyes looked over the battlefield, before he walked over to a certain spot, bending down and picking up a broken katana hilt.

"Someone was able to stop them then…" he muttered in thought "But who?"

"Lord Alain." the young man heard a familiar voice to him, turning his head to look over his shoulder, seeing a man wearing a black uniform with a shoulder cape, his face placed him in his late 30s, with a goatee black slightly graying hair.

"Javert. I was wondering how long it would take you to find me." Alain said in amusement.

Javert sighed slightly at his charge's words "Lord Alain, please, you must stop running off like this, your father worries about you when you disappear suddenly."

Alain looked away at that, feeling slightly guilty about worrying his father, before he turned back to Javert "I'm sorry, but I had to know why two of our brethren hadn't reported in recently."

Javert sighed, but nodded all the same. It was one of the many reasons why he had sworn his loyalty to his prince. Even if Alain was young, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he loved their people more than anything and only had their best interest at heart.

"The items we had used to empower them have been destroyed, and their eyecons are broken." the young prince said, picking up one of the Ganma eyecons, being similar in shape to the Luminary eyecons, except it had a sort of tail at the back.

"Then their consciousness have returned to their bodies for now." Javert finished the train of thought with a nod.

"We'll need to have more eyecons crafted for them, to avoid any issues with them being in their bodies for too long." Alain said as he pocketed one of the broken eyecons.

Javert nodded in agreement. "I'll inform Igor as fast as possible."

"And as curtly as possible." Alain added with an amused smirk, with Javert neither denying nor acknowledging the words.

"So… did anything of importance happen after I left." Alain asked his bodyguard.

Javert had to consider the question for a few moments, before shaking his head "Nothing of the sort, though, if we don't get back soon, you will be late for your lesson."

Alain actually winced at the words "I really don't want to make her angry. Right, let's go then."

Javert had to fight to hide his smirk "Your aunt certainly is an intimidating woman."

"Exactly why I'm hurrying." Alain spoke quickly as he walked passed Javert, the bodyguard turning to follow his charge, the two leaving the clearing and returning to where they came from.

After they were gone, the old sage walked out from behind the trees, looking at where they had been "Things are certainly going to become hectic." he spoke, before he disappeared.

* * *

 **And voila!**

 **Yeahp, Alain, Javert and Igor are part of the story.**

 **Honestly, expect a good portion of the characters from Ghost to still be in this story.**

 **Also, Alain has an aunt? That wasn't in the show now was it? Of course not, this is a little thing for my story.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, and see you all next time!**


End file.
